Meat Loaf Says Health Issues Mean He May Never Sing Again

Meat Loaf has revealed that problems with his back have prevented him from singing for a year now, and that he may never be able to perform again.

The 70-year-old artist has undergone a series of surgical procedures in an attempt to resolve the issues, he said, but he’s currently unable to move around his home without the aid of a walker.

“You use everything to sing, and I just cannot do it,” he told Rolling Stone in a new interview, before insisting that he planned to keep fighting. “From how I grew up, that's where I learned to be tough and to never stop. I mean, I'm tough as nails. Once I was hit in the head with a pool cue and just turned to the guy and said, 'You just made a big mistake.' Got hit in the head with a whiskey bottle. Had my head slammed into a locker. I've had 18 concussions. And nothing, nothing has ever put me down. Yeah, man – I never go down." Still, he noted, “my back is driving me crazy. But then I'm probably a little crazy anyway, because of all the concussions.”

Asked whether he’d attend the upcoming opening of the Bat Out of Hell stage musical, he said there was “not a prayer” of his appearance while he had to rely on the walker. “I don't have any business going out to where all the bars and bands are,” he said. “They'd look at me and say, 'Who's the old guy? What's that old guy doing here?' No, man, I don't belong in those places."

Meat Loaf also expressed concern for the well-being of Jim Steinman, the songwriter and producer with whom he’s had most of his success. “He doesn't want me talking about his health, but I'm worried about him,” he said. “My dream was never to be a rock ’n’ roll star. I wanted to play professional football. … When people call me a legend, I say, 'Don't call me that, I'm not a legend.' I don't pretend to be one. I want to be just a normal human being.”